1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein generally relate to a transmission management apparatus, a transmission system, a transmission management method and a computer readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a process.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a transmission system that transmits or receives content data between a plurality of transmission terminals via a relay apparatus includes a videoconference system that carries out a videoconference or the like via a communication network such as the Internet. There is an increasing need for such videoconference systems according to a request for reduction in business trip costs and time in recent years. In such a videoconference system, a plurality of videoconference terminals, which are examples of transmission terminals, are used. A videoconference can be carried out by transmission or reception of image data and sound data among these videoconference terminals (See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-227577).
In such a transmission system, according to recent improvement of broadband circumstances, it becomes possible to transmit/receive high-quality image data or high-quality sound data. Accordingly, it becomes easier to detect the circumstances of a communication partner in a videoconference, and hence conversation-based communication becomes more productive. However, a communication terminal may be used for different applications or purposes. It is not necessarily preferable that all transmission terminals carry out the transmission of image data or sound data with the setting of high image quality and high sound quality.
For example, in a case of using a transmission terminal for remote medicine, in order to send an image of an affected part of a patient to a remote place, image data are preferably high quality. In contrast, in a case of using a communication terminal for a videoconference system for merely conveying a message or monitoring a video of a monitoring camera with a relatively low image quality, image data are not necessarily of high image quality. In this way, in a case of carrying out data transmission with the setting of high image quality and high sound quality for applications or purposes that do not require high image quality, a communication band of the transmission system may be narrowed, and data transmission of a transmission terminal which requires high image quality, a cost or the like may be affected.